Sitting alone playing Candy Crush ( I've reached level 443 by the way) yesterday, with the droplets of rain threatening to turn heavy any minute, I looked out the glass door forlornly. I missed my late grandma tremendously. I missed her so much that my eyes started to water.
I lived with my grandparents since I was a little baby. My parents were in Singapore at that time and my mom had to undergo an operation to remove her thyroid. Since there was no one to care for me, I was sent to be with my grandma for a while. A while became years. I lived with them until I turned twelve.
Those twelve years was the best years in my life. I cherished those years tremendously. I became their pet. Even though life was hard back then, I loved every single minute spent with them.
The house that we lived in, is a typical Malay wooden house. It looked something like below. Back then (in the late 1960s) there was not too many houses or neighbours that lived close to our home. It was very quiet and dark when the night falls as there was no electricity just yet. I would usually cling close to grandma during these hours because I was afraid that some kind of ghosts or vampires would fly over our roof and saw me and snatch me away. Can't blame me for being that way. I was shoved with ghost stories frequently by grandma. She did that because I was like a boy and I was never home even after dark. She was tired having to look for me around the village that she started telling ghost stories just to keep me quiet at home. Well, she succeeded.
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That's it. That's their conversation. I don't totally blame them for being that way. My grandpa was not friendly towards his children. But around me, he's totally a different person. He would called out to me to follow him to his little farm where he grew tapioca, corn, and other vegetation. I would help him out to clear the shrubs and water his farm. He also taught me how to milk a cow. I was so good at it that he would let me do it on my own whenever he is not around.
You know what else he taught me? He taught me how to catch a snake. We didn't have a running tap water at home, so we had to depend on a self-dig well. A big rambutan tree stood next to the well. Since this tree grow lots of branches and twigs, one will not be surprised to see a snake curling up on the branches and once in a while these snakes would fall into the well.
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| Rambutan tree :Picture from wikimedia |
You know what else he taught me? He taught me how to catch a snake. We didn't have a running tap water at home, so we had to depend on a self-dig well. A big rambutan tree stood next to the well. Since this tree grow lots of branches and twigs, one will not be surprised to see a snake curling up on the branches and once in a while these snakes would fall into the well.
The first time I saw a snake swimming in our well, I screamed at the top of my voice. After that I became an expert on how to fish out the snake from the water. My grandpa would use a coconut skewer ( I don't know the right word) and make a little knot from it. Together we would try to fish out the snake until I finally managed to pull out the snake. How cool can I be! That was then.
Grandma, she is one person I truly love to this day. I know she had her flaws but to me she was perfect. She was a great cook and I am not just saying it. All her grandchildren would request for her cooking whenever they were there spending long school holidays.
She loved me so much that sometimes she would hide my favourite dessert from her own children, not until I eat it first. She was always upset with my antics but she will always back me up whenever any body says things about me. I was her life and hers mine. She loved all her other grandchildren as much as she did to me but since I am the only one who really lived with her all the time, I got more love than the rest, at least while they're not there.
She loved me so much that sometimes she would hide my favourite dessert from her own children, not until I eat it first. She was always upset with my antics but she will always back me up whenever any body says things about me. I was her life and hers mine. She loved all her other grandchildren as much as she did to me but since I am the only one who really lived with her all the time, I got more love than the rest, at least while they're not there.
After school, I would ride around the village on the big old bicycle to look for my buddies, mostly boys. I would play until well after seven p.m. by which it will be dark soon. She would go from one house to the other to look for me. The moment she found me.. well you know what happened next.
One day, she was so mad at me and said, "Ok, I've packed your bag with clothes inside and a little food for you to last for a few days. Go..go find your friends now and stay with them!"
I looked at her in total disbelief. Who is this woman? Where is my grandma? How can this woman throwing me out from her house? You know what I did? I went to take my shower while my mind was racing furiously. What shall I do? Even then, my pride was high and I was not going to beg her to have mercy on me. After the shower, I went upstairs and pretended to take my little suitcase (I was nine or ten years old). I peeped from the staircase and saw her having dinner on her own (my grandpa was at the mosque). Okay, now's the time. I pulled out a thin mattress (my grandma used material from kapok tree to sew the mattress, something like cotton) from under the bed, rolled it open and lie inside it, then I rolled myself back inside the mattress. Now I only had to be quiet and stay still.
After what seemed like an eternity, I heard her footstep coming upstairs. She looked for me inside grandpa's room, I was not there. She looked for the little suitcase, it was not there. I pushed the suitcase behind me under the bed. I can hear her panic movement. She went downstairs and opened the door. It went quiet again. Later on I heard my grandpa's voice asking questions. They were talking loudly and there's a little panic in their voice. I heard them saying that they're going to look at our nearest neighbour's house. I waited until they left before I came out from my hiding.
My tummy was growling. It needed to be filled up. I went down to have my dinner and suddenly they were home. She stared at me quietly while grandpa was harping at me for being a brat. I went to bed with swollen eyes. I pretended to sleep when grandma came to check on me. She curled up her body next to mine and caress my back softly. That memory stays with me to this day. So much for my pride!
Next to the house, grandpa built a little barn for grandma to cook. She didn't own a modern stove like we do now. She used firewood to cook. Whenever there was no more firewood, she would call out to me and suggested I follow her to the rubber estate. We used two bicycles so that we can carry home more fire wood than if using only one bicycle. Rubber trees produce good woods for cooking. It dries easily and cracked to the fire even better. While I looked for the firewood, she would hunt for mushroom. These wild mushroom breed beautifully under shaded trees and grows on dead rubber tree twigs. She looked pleased with herself for harvesting enough mushroom to last her a couple of days. So what's in it for me? You think I would follow her if there's nothing for me? Rubber trees got it's own fruits which will burst when it's ripe and scattered the little brown seed inside. This was my ulterior motive for willingly following her to the estate. The seeds are useful for us (me and my buddies) for our own tournament.
At other time, when she didn't have any schedule on that day, she suggested for us to go fishing. This one I like. I don't need to pretend to enjoy it because I truly enjoy fishing. We didn't have the fancy fishing rod. She went behind the house and cut down two long thin bamboo stems for us to use it as rod. We used worm as our bait. We headed to a little stream that took us about half an hour to get there. She was good with her catch and we managed to catch some decent fish for that evening. Since we don't own a fridge yet at that time, those extra fish were used to ferment it and after a few days we can eat it, by frying it first. I hated the smell of that fermented fish and I never ate it even now, but the memory of her doing just that still intact in my head.
I wish she was still around to watch me grow up and become ladylike (not much but acceptable) and I wish I could have done something for her and grandpa. They were precious to me, even the memories were precious to me.
May Allah bless you Grandma and Grandpa. Wherever you are, my prayers will always be with you.
Rose
15th.Dec '14
My tummy was growling. It needed to be filled up. I went down to have my dinner and suddenly they were home. She stared at me quietly while grandpa was harping at me for being a brat. I went to bed with swollen eyes. I pretended to sleep when grandma came to check on me. She curled up her body next to mine and caress my back softly. That memory stays with me to this day. So much for my pride!
Next to the house, grandpa built a little barn for grandma to cook. She didn't own a modern stove like we do now. She used firewood to cook. Whenever there was no more firewood, she would call out to me and suggested I follow her to the rubber estate. We used two bicycles so that we can carry home more fire wood than if using only one bicycle. Rubber trees produce good woods for cooking. It dries easily and cracked to the fire even better. While I looked for the firewood, she would hunt for mushroom. These wild mushroom breed beautifully under shaded trees and grows on dead rubber tree twigs. She looked pleased with herself for harvesting enough mushroom to last her a couple of days. So what's in it for me? You think I would follow her if there's nothing for me? Rubber trees got it's own fruits which will burst when it's ripe and scattered the little brown seed inside. This was my ulterior motive for willingly following her to the estate. The seeds are useful for us (me and my buddies) for our own tournament.
At other time, when she didn't have any schedule on that day, she suggested for us to go fishing. This one I like. I don't need to pretend to enjoy it because I truly enjoy fishing. We didn't have the fancy fishing rod. She went behind the house and cut down two long thin bamboo stems for us to use it as rod. We used worm as our bait. We headed to a little stream that took us about half an hour to get there. She was good with her catch and we managed to catch some decent fish for that evening. Since we don't own a fridge yet at that time, those extra fish were used to ferment it and after a few days we can eat it, by frying it first. I hated the smell of that fermented fish and I never ate it even now, but the memory of her doing just that still intact in my head.
I wish she was still around to watch me grow up and become ladylike (not much but acceptable) and I wish I could have done something for her and grandpa. They were precious to me, even the memories were precious to me.
May Allah bless you Grandma and Grandpa. Wherever you are, my prayers will always be with you.
Rose
15th.Dec '14
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